Giannis Is the Best Player In the NBA
Hello smash fans and welcome back! In this week’s installment, I want to talk about the NBA Finals and more specifically what these NBA Finals mean for Giannis moving forward. However, before I do that, let’s look at these finals from an overall perspective.
This Finals matchup was looked at by many as one of the best matchups that we could have gotten in this year’s playoffs and the series lived up to the hype. We had highlight play after highlight play. We had twists and turns throughout the entire series, and we had historic playoff storylines come to fruition. Yes, Devin Booker and Chris Paul did not play the best they could have played, but The Bucks played who was in front of them and won. So congratulation to the Bucks roster as a whole, but the person that deserves the most credit by far is Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He was absolutely insane during the playoffs and in this Finals series. Without context, this is one of the greatest finals series of all time. Giannis became the first player to average at least 35 points 13 rebounds and 5 assists on 60 percent shooting. That is ridiculous. You then add the all-time great defense, and you get one of the best series for a player in NBA history. But wait, we haven’t even added context yet. Not only did Giannis put up these averages, but he did it after coming back from an injury that looked season-ending. Additionally, he returned from that injury way sooner than expected even after the diagnosis. Furthermore, when his team needed him the most, he delivered. In game 6, when no one else played well besides Bobby Portis, Giannis put the Bucks on his back, scoring 50 points along with 14 boards on 33 percent from three, 64 percent from the field, and 89.5 percent from the free-throw line. The Greek Freak shot 19 free throws and only missed two. In the biggest game of his entire life, he played out of his mind. Giannis may have had the greatest individual Finals performance ever and he has now, in my opinion, taken the greatest player in the world title from LeBron.
Giannis has given the burden of proof needed to take the crown. He not only has the individual accolades now, but he has the storyline too. Before this season, Giannis’ story was all about how he faced adversity and overcame it before he made it to the NBA. Ever since he got to the NBA, he has gotten steadily better and hasn’t faced that many roadblocks by the NBA’s standards, that changed with the wall defense. For Giannis to get to the next level, he had to defeat the wall defense, and he did just that this playoff run. It wasn’t just that he beat the wall defense, he did it against the team that beat them out of the bubble in the first round and then won a series against one of the only players that people had over Giannis in player rankings. Moreover, the injury in the Eastern Conference finals forced him into a precarious position, yet he persevered and it paid off. The story of Giannis is now not one of just regular-season dominance, but one of post-season greatness. With this win, Giannis has propelled himself into the conversation for the best Buck of all time and has created a path for him to become a candidate for the NBA’s GOAT when it is all over.
Thank you Smash Fans for sticking with me until the end. If you want to talk about this topic or any other topic sports-related, please email me or text me using the information on the contact page. If you want to support me even more, please consider following my Spotify as well as subscribing to my YouTube channel and blog for weekly podcasts and articles. Until next time, PD Smash signing off.